In our tradition the last Shabbat before Pesach is called Shabbat HaGadol, which literally means the “Great Shabbat”. This was one of the two Shabbats throughout the year on which Rabbis would give a long sermon explaining to the members of their communities the commandments related to Pesach, especially the laws related to koshering the household in preparation for the Festival. Therefore, their sermon was linked to one of the three names of Pesach – Chag HaMatzot, the Festival of Matzah, which refers to the ritual aspects of this Festival. Today I would like to focus on the aspects of Pesach represented by its second name – Chag HaCherut, the Festival of our Freedom.
Pesach represents the time when the Israelites were liberated from Egyptian slavery. If by freedom we understand the lack of any yoke, then we can treat this Festival as the day of our nation’s liberation. However, freedom could be also understood more broadly. Many people understand freedom as the possibility of self-determination and of making decisions on their own, without having to take others into consideration. In our tradition such an approach was displayed by Korach, who did not want to accept the social order introduced by Moses according to the advice he received from Yitro. His unwillingness to accept the interdependence of all the Israelites led to a division among the Israelites and to many victims among his supporters. Since I currently live in England, I think of Korach’s rebellion quite often. I wonder whether the Britons who support Brexit do not resemble Korach in their lack of understanding that in the modern globalized world close economic cooperation is just as essential as unity was for the Israelites as they were struggling with harsh living conditions in the desert. I am convinced that freedom doesn’t have to rule out interdependence. The story of Korach teaches us that independence at all costs, even when it is harmful for us, does not amount to true freedom.
Freedom entails the possibility of self-determination. It might seem that in Poland, a country in which slavery was abolished in the Middle Ages and serfdom in the 19th century, each one of us can consider themselves a free person. But can you really enjoy freedom and make autonomous decisions when you earn so little money that you have to dedicate most of your time and attention to ensure that you have something to eat? Or when someone doesn’t receive a respectable salary for their hard work? I believe that many of us would not view such conditions as freedom. And you would be well within your rights – even though we’ve experienced economic growth, wages in Poland represent a small percentage of gross national income compared to other EU countries. This effectively means that the wages of Polish workers are too low, that enterprises do not invest in innovative solutions because it’s simply not profitable for them – since they can cut the costs by paying less to their workers. A similar situation can be observed in the public sector, where employees such as nurses, many doctors employed in state-run institutions and teachers do not receive respectable salaries for their responsible jobs which require a great amount of knowledge and skills. No wonder that teachers went on strike. Of course we can express our indignation that due to their strike children cannot go to school. However, we must ask ourselves if we want our children – as they observe their teachers – to learn to accept unjust wages and exploitation? Do we want them to grow up convinced that the professions which are essential for the functioning of the society – pedagogy and nursing – should receive laughable wages? I believe that we should teach our children that personal freedom must go hand in hand with dignified work conditions which ensure a certain margin of economic freedom and guarantee that we have time for our close ones.
Often times debates regarding the essence of freedom lead to conflicts or even to social divisions. Rabbis warned us on many occasions that a lack of dialogue between those holding different opinions or the instance of speaking bad about others are a disease which afflicts societal life. Rabbi Resh Lakish in tractate Arachin 15b of the Babylonian Talmud claimed that the name of this week’s Parasha – Metzora – is connected to the phrase motzi shem ra — which describes someone who deliberately destroys another person’s reputation through slander or defamation. Resh Lakish claims that tzaraat — a skin disease described in Parasha Metzora – is a punishment for deliberately destroying someone’s reputation.
Rabbi Resh Lakish’s commentary teaches us that we cannot resort to unjust methods as we strive to secure freedom; while fighting for freedom we must respect the dignity of other people. This Shabbat I encourage you to reflect on whether you treat with respect those people with whose views you disagree? If not – maybe it would be a good time to start now, before the Pesach Seder, which teaches us that everyone – even the disobedient son – has a right to participate in the Festival of Freedom. Maybe it would be a good idea to apply this rule not only on special occasions. Shabbat Shalom!
Translated from Polish by: Marzena Szymańska-Błotnicka
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